Cable sheath protector



Patented Oct. 7, 1941 OFFICE CABLE SHEATH PROTECTOR C. E. Lewis Kerchner, York, Pa., assignor of sixty per cent to John Rupprecht, York, Pa.

Application December 2, 1938, Serial No. 243,647

1 Claim.

Barring accidents, practically the only wear imposed on the sheath of a telephone cable, or other sheathed cable, occurs at the supporting pole, and is due to the swinging and vibration of the cable, where the cable is carried by the hangers. The present invention aims to supply a means whereby wear of the kind indicated may be obviated.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in View, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the inven tion.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a device constructed in accordance with the invention, together with the supporting pole and attendant parts;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan showing a modified form of the invention, parts being in section.

In Fig. 1, there is shown a support, such as a pole l, to which is secured a bracket 2, whereon is mounted a flexible carrying line 3, often referred to as the messenger cable, engaged by the oppositely facing hooks 4 of loop-shaped hangers 5, receiving a cable 6, provided with a sheath 1, made of lead or some other soft material.

The sheath 1, in the absence of the device forming the subject matter of this application, is worn by contact with the hangers 5, and in order to obviate such a wearing, so much of the sheath 1 of the cable 6 as is within the scope of the hangers 5, is wound about with a spiral covering 8, having its convolutions in edge contact, the covering preferably being a ribbon of flat, hardened and tempered steel, having considerable resiliency. The covering 8 may be slipped on endwise, over the cable, but the protector has resiliency enough so that its convolutions may be separated, thereby enabling the covering 8 to be cork-screwed upon the cable.

Although the main cable is carried by the hangers 5, from the messenger line 3, the hangers being spaced about eighteen inches or so apart, most or" the weight is at the pole, and wear is greatest there. The present invention will do away with wear on the sheath '1, from the hangers 5, and will consummate the objects set forth in the opening portion of this specification.

In Fig. 3, parts hereinbefore described have been designated by numerals already used, with the suifix 0;. The cable may make a short turn, and the convolutions of the single spiral covering 8a may tend to open, as indicated at 9, under which circumstances, the hangers 5 would have access to the sheath la. of the cable and wear the cable. In order to close the openings shown at 9, and to obviate wearing of the cable sheath, there is disposed witlnn the covering Ba, another covering l0, constructed like the covering 8a, but wound spirally in an opposite direction, the covering [6 bridging the spaces between the separated convolutions of the covering 8a and preventing the hangers So from coming into contact with the sheath la.

The device is simple in construction, but practical and advantageous.

What is claimed is:

A cable sheath protector of such length as to receive so much only of a cable as is immediately adjacent to a supporting post, and comprising tempered and hardened, ribbon-like, metallic, inner and outer resilient members, pre-formed into oppositely wound spirals, the convolutions of the members being of the same cross section, the convolutions of each member being normally in edge-to-edge contact, the convolutions of the inner member bridging the spaces between the convolutions of the outer member, when the convolutions of the outer member as spaced from each other, due to a flexure of the protector, out of a straight line, the resiliency of said members being such that their convolutions can be spaced sufficiently to enable them to be interengaged with each other, and with the sheath to be protected, by a rotary, corkscrew operation, the resiliency of said members being such that they will resume the aforesaid edge-to-edge contact, in situ.

C. E. LEWIS KERCHNER.

Oct. 7, 1 941. A. ALLAN ET AL 2,258,529

METAL- GLAD ELECTRIC SWI TCHGEAR Original Filed Nov. 14, 1938 8 Sheets-Sheet l 

